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2016 Honda Civic Coupe Spied

Production car hews closely to concept car’s looks, as promised.

When Honda showed its 2016 Civic concept car at the New York auto show, it promised that the production model would hew closely to the concept’s more daring looks. If these spy photos of a prototype 2016 Honda Civic Coupe are any indication, they weren’t lying.

From what we can see of this prototype’s camouflaged profile, the 2016 Honda Civic will adopt a similar wedge shape to the concept, with a low, aggressive front end that displays angular headlights that are integrated into a new grille design. A rising character line along the side leads toward a raised trunklid, and the sharply sloped rear window makes for a fastback-like greenhouse. Even the wraparound rear taillight design appears to carry over from the Civic concept, with a wide center-mounted LED brakelight that swoops down into D-shaped taillight lenses.

The prototype in these photos looks to be a standard Civic Coupe rather than a Civic Si or Civic Type R performance variant, and thus doesn’t sport the concept car’s rear spoiler and sportier fascias. All versions of the 2016 Honda Civic will ride on a new platform set to underpin all global variants of Honda’s compact. Under the hood will be multiple variants of Honda’s new turbocharged VTEC four-cylinder engines, with the standard Civic sedan, coupe, and hatchback bodystyles likely using a 1.5-liter turbo-four and the wild Civic Type R slated for a 2.0-liter turbo-four like the current European-market Type R.

Honda promises a sportier driving experience from all versions of the 2016 Honda Civic, so stay tuned to see if this redesigned compact car can deliver as we hear more about it leading up to an official debut later this year. In the meantime, check out these photos of the Civic coupe prototype testing in the desert.

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